


The Fine Print

by Blizzard96



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Byeongkwan throws down with suburban moms, Donghun only cooks for Yuchan, Fae & Fairies, Gen, Jun needs a parenting book and Advil, Pixies, Sehyoon almost gets married, Selkies, Sirens, Yuchan is the brightest child ever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 06:06:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14098914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzard96/pseuds/Blizzard96
Summary: Jun makes a deal with a human and gets a free kid. He hadn't really planned on what to do afterwards.Alternatively: Yuchan grows up with four magical beings and helps all of them grow up too.





	The Fine Print

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a drabble, but apparently I have no self control.

“Junhee, it’s time,” his teacher said, giving Jun a cold expression. “It has been centuries, and you have yet to strike a deal with a human.”

Jun gulped. Despite the truth in his instructor’s words, he was still new enough to his current position that he was not particularly interested in forming deals with humans (and then subsequently trying to wriggle out of them with any possible loophole). “I understand,” he replied, careful not to let any emotion show on his face. This was yet another thing that set him apart from his peers. Though they were all beautiful and captivating, none of the others seemed to have a scrap of empathy even for other fae, much less any other species. Jun could not recall seeing any expression on another fae's face that wasn’t indifference or mild displeasure.

His instructor nodded. “Good. I expect you to have formed a deal with at least one human by the next time we meet.” She was gone in a swish of her extravagant silk dress. Jun released a heavy sigh once she had disappeared.

“Alright, one deal,” he muttered to himself. “How hard can that be?”

 

* * *

 

“And what will you give me in exchange for access to your inheritance?” Jun asked, raising an eyebrow, every bit the ethereal and cold faerie he was expected to be. The woman in front of him bit her lip, shifting nervously. It was clear that she was not very old, barely eighteen, and Jun felt a brief surge of pity for her to be forced into such a situation. He quickly pushed that feeling away. 

“I don’t know what you would deem as sufficient payment,” she admitted. Jun sighed internally, though he was careful not to let his exasperation show. Many of his peers would doubtlessly have been excited by the opportunity to name their own price, but Jun just found himself wanting to go home. 

To the Fair Folk, nothing mattered more than an equivalent exchange. He narrowed his eyes at the girl. “In exchange for your birthright, you must give up your first born’s birthright,” Jun decided. 

She blinked. “You want my first child?”

Jun tilted his head, which could be interpreted as a nod. Honestly, he wasn’t too crazy about the idea himself, but apparently stealing children was a pretty common thing for his people. “The deal is exactly as you heard,” he said with an air of finality, making sure to leave enough room in his words to be able to twist them later.

Shockingly, the girl didn’t look to fazed by Jun’s proposition. “You will take this child?” she repeated, trying to clarify.

“The deal is exactly what I offered,” Jun confirmed, feeling his lips begin to twitch downward in confusion until he caught himself and fell back into his expressionless mask.

The girl suddenly smiled at him. “Will you be taking my child?”

Jun’s eyes widened fractionally. He’d been naive in assuming this girl had come to strike a bargain without doing her homework. Few humans existed in modern times who knew that a fae’s word thrice promised was as close to binding a faerie to the truth that a human could get. His instructor had warned him about such a thing, yet he had been careless. 

Through gritted teeth he replied, “The deal is for me to take the child without a chance of you recovering them. They will belong entirely to the Fair Folk.” He let his mask drop for a second to show the girl his displeasure at having been tricked. 

She just kept grinning at him. Jun would not be surprised if the girl decided to break off the deal there, knowing the truth in Jun’s intentions. Then, to his utter surprise, she nodded, “You have a deal then.” Her word bound her, and Jun blinked in astonishment. “Now my inheritance?”

Nonplussed, Jun could hardly do more than snap his fingers, granting her desire. “You’ll receive notice in the morning,” he said.

She smiled. “Then I guess I’ll see you whenever I have a child.”

Jun shook his head and transported himself away, landing back in his home in the faerie realm. “What an odd girl,” he mused to himself. What kind of human researched deals with fae and then did not try and create a way out of their contract? Well, that didn’t matter. At least now he would be able to report that he made a deal.

 

* * *

 

It seemed like it had hardly been a month since he had visited the mortal realm (though he knew it had been much longer for them), when he felt himself being pulled back by a force that could only be his contract coming to completion. He teleported into the human realm and found himself in the middle of a bedroom. He looked around to see a woman sitting on the bed with a child wrapped in a blanket cradled to her chest. Though she was noticeably older with new wrinkles in her skin, Jun immediately recognized her as the girl he’d made a deal with.

“You’ve gotten older,” he remarked, looking her up and down.

“And you have not,” she replied, a ghost of a smile on her lips. She rocked the baby in her arms. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“I hope you remember our deal,” Jun said.

She laughed. “As if I could forget.” She crossed the room to him. As she got closer, Jun could see the baby was a boy with black hair. “Though you took longer than I expected. He’s already a month old.”

“As agreed, I am to take your first born,” he said, ignoring the last part of her words.

“I was counting on it,” she said, unceremoniously plopping the baby in his arms. Jun blinked, not expecting how easily she handed the child over. She looked amused by his confusion. “I never wanted to have children,” she said. She gave her son one last undecipherable look, something flickering in her eyes, before her expression settled. “He’s a bit of a crier, so good luck.”

Suddenly, Jun was back in his home in the fae realm, baby still cradled in his arms. As if on cue, the baby opened its mouth and let out a loud wail, immediately piercing Jun’s sensitive eardrums. Jun had never handled a child before, and he hastily attempted to rock the baby back and forth like he’d seen humans do before. When that proved unsuccessful, his thoughts raced for what could possibly be causing the child such distress.

 

 _Was the child hungry? Did Jun even have food suitable for babies? Did the baby need to use the bathroom?_  

 

He quickly turned the baby over to lift up its diaper and immediately recoiled, nose wrinkling. Well, that confirmed at least one of his assumptions. His eyes widened in fear. Did he have anything that could substitute for a diaper?! His looked around his apartment desperately, ultimately landing on the pillow cases he’d set out to dry in his window. He groaned. Jun really didn’t want to sacrifice any of his bedding, but he’d have to do it until he managed to get back to the human world and buy some actual diapers.

All the while as he focused on disposing of the soiled diaper, cleaning up the child and fashioning a pillowcase and some rope into a passable new diaper, Jun cursed the girl he’d struck a deal with. Though by all rights he should feel successful for pulling off the bargain (along with being incredibly lucky that the girl apparently hadn’t been searching for loopholes in the contract), Jun couldn’t help but feel like he’d gotten the short end of their deal.

 

* * *

 

“Hun!” Jun yelled, pounding on his friend’s door (lightly so he wouldn’t wake the baby strapped to his chest with a sort of child harness thing he’d picked up from a human grocery store). “Lee Donghun!”

“I’m coming!” a gruff voice yelled back. Seconds later the door swung open, revealing a very irritated looking pixie. He was wearing sleep clothes and looking like he’d just rolled out of bed, hair sticking up at odd angles and eyes half closed. “What do you…?” he trailed off when he noticed the child on Jun’s chest. The baby took that moment to let out a fearful sound at Donghun’s appearance, and Jun shushed him before a full blown meltdown could begin.

Jun laughed nervously. “Okay, so funny story.”

“Nope,” Donghun said, moving to shut the door in Jun’s face, but Jun was just fast enough to wedge his foot between the door and the frame.

“Hear me out!” Jun protested, trying to push the door open with one hand while running his finger’s soothingly through the child’s hair with the other. 

“No!” Donghun repeated, panic seeping into his voice as he pressed on the door more ugently. “Go away!”  
“Please!” Jun said, finally resorting to begging. “I can’t ask any of the other fae for help and pixies know more about humans anyway!”

“Yeah, maybe pixies in general, but not me!” Donghun countered.

Jun finally turned to the side so he could protect the child on his stomach, but still use his shoulder to hold open the door frame. “I don’t have anyone else I can talk to!”

“What about Sehyoon? Or Byeongkwan?” Donghun asked desperately.

Jun scoffed. “This is a baby who can’t even walk, let alone swim! Do you really want to leave just a selkie and a siren to watch him?”

Donghun finally sighed, slumping against the door frame. Jun stumbled when the force against the door lifted, but managed to stay on his feet. The baby gurgled happily, not realizing the gravity of the situation. “There’s no one else?”

Jun shook his head, running a hand through his hair and sending a shower of sparkles down onto the child. “I could take him to visit Sehyoon and Byeongkwan, but they know as little about humans as I do. You’re the only being I know who has gone to the human world regularly since the last time we were all there!”

The pixie frowned, looking down at the child once again and stooping until he was eye level. The baby looked up at him with big round eyes before smiling widely and showing his gums. Jun watched Donghun’s eyes soften fractionally. “You’re lucky I like kids,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Jun before motioning the two of them into his house.

 

* * *

 

Donghun had laid out two steaming cups of tea on his coffee table while Jun settled into the couch with the baby. Jun cradled the baby in his arms and nodded as Donghun settled into the armchair. 

“Alright,” Donghun said, “Start from the beginning.”

Jun continued to rock the baby as he spilled everything, from his instructor’s expectations, to the suspiciously fast agreement the girl had given him, to when things all went south as a baby was thrust upon him. He even began recounting his first experience with the baby’s diaper, when Donghun held up a hand and made a face.

“Not that much,” Donghun said, grimacing, “But you really got yourself in a bind here, Jun. You can’t back out of your word.”

“I know!” Jun whined, setting the baby off. He panicked and made shushing noises, even singing a bit, until the child quieted back down. “I know,” he repeated, softer this time.

“What do fae normally do with children in this situation?” Donghun asked. “Surely you aren’t the first one to have taken a child in a deal.”

“No,” Jun said, “But usually the others either abandon them when they get bored or…” He made a face.

“Or?” Donghun prompted.

“Or they eat them,” Jun mumbled.

Donghun’s eyebrows shot up. “You are not eating that baby.”

“Of course not!” Jun huffed. “But I can’t leave him on his own either.” There was a pause as they both took in the situation.

“So… what are you going to do then?”

“I don’t know,” Jun said. “I guess I’m going to have to raise him.”

Donghun’s jaw dropped. “The kid’s a human though!”

“Yes, thank you, I hadn’t noticed that,” Jun said sarcastically. He frowned. “I could probably get a place in the mortal realm to raise him. That way he hopefully won’t attract the attention of the other Fair Folk. He should be raised among his own people anyway.”

“Can’t you just put him up for adoption?” Donghun asked.

“No, I already thought of that,” Jun said. “In my deal I said that I would be taking the child away, which implies my involvement specifically. I can’t force the child on another.”

Donghun stared at his friend disbelievingly. “You’re an idiot.”

Jun frowned. “You know, most Fair Folk would kill you for saying something like that.”

The pixie ignored the weak threat. “Do you even know what a big change it’s going to be to live in the mortal realm and raise a kid? By yourself? There’s a reason humans tend to pair up before producing offspring.”

“There are single humans that still raise children,” Jun said, “Besides, it can’t be too bad. I hear technology has come a long way in terms of child care. And I won’t be completely alone.” He gave the pixie a winning smile.

Donghun frowned before his eyes widened in realization. “No. Oh no. I agreed to hear you out, but I definitely did not sign up for raising this child for however long humans typically live.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Pleaseeeeee?” Jun whined. “How can you say no to this face?” He held the baby up to the stone faced pixie.

Donghun wavered as the child blew a bubble of spit and giggled. There were a tense few seconds before he finally cracked and took the baby from Jun. “You play so dirty,” he hissed, though he carefully held the baby in his arms.

Jun beamed. “Now we just have to get Sehyoon and Byeongkwan on board!”

Donhun balked. “Wait, you want to get a house with those two too? I thought you said they weren’t capable of raising a human!” He exclaimed, horrified.

The faerie rolled his eyes. “I meant I didn’t want to go to _just_ them. I don’t have enough money to pay for a house alone, and I doubt that we could cover the costs even with the two of us living together. Sehyoon’s got a hoard of pearls from the ocean and Byeongkwan’s been saving and investing for centuries.” Donghun hated to admit that the other man had a point.

“Fine,” he sighed. “But don’t be surprised if the house ends up burning down after a month.”

Jun scoffed. “You say that like we all didn’t live together that one time we all wanted to try going to college.”

“We swore to leave what happened there in the 1900’s,” Donghun snapped.

“Anyway,” the faerie said, waving a hand, “Don’t worry about it. We won’t even really have to go live in the mortal realm until the baby is of the age where we need to send him to school.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Donghun said. “We’re still going to have to research how to teach this kid.”

“Way ahead of you,” Jun said, reaching into a baby bag Donghun hadn’t noticed before. His guess was he had been distracted by the baby and didn’t see Jun’s large backpack, which was crammed to the brim with food, supplies, toys, and diapers. “I actually printed these out in the mortal realm yesterday.” He slapped a few thick stacks of paper onto Donghun’s coffee table, jolting their teacups.

“What’s that?” Donghun asked, unable to pick up the papers because of the baby in his arms.

“They’re Wikipedia articles!” Jun said proudly. “I also have a few parenting books I ordered off of Amazon being delivered to my house tomorrow. I rushed them.”

“Does Amazon deliver to the fae realm?”

“They do for extra shipping and handling.”

Donghun shook his head. “Fine. Whatever.”

“Also, I was hunting for houses and picked out these,” Jun said, pulling more papers out of his backpack. Donghun wondered if the bag was charmed to be able to hold more than normally possible. “We can flip through those tonight and start touring them later.”

“You knew I was going to say yes before you even came over, didn’t you?” Donghun accused, narrowing his eyes.

Jun leveled him with a look. “Donghun, please. You are the biggest pushover for children I have ever seen in my life.”

Donghun tilted his head in acknowledgement as he looked back toward the baby in his arms. “So. Does he have a name?”

Jun sighed. “Yes. It was weird. I know the woman didn’t want a child, but the blanket she had wrapped him in had a name embroidered on it. Maybe it was her brother’s or something, but…I think she did name him. His name is Yuchan.”

Donghun nodded. “Yuchan, huh? That’s a nice name.”

 

* * *

 

_4 years later_

 

“Yuchan, be careful,” Jun said, glancing at the slippery rocks in front of him as they trudged alongside the beach. Jun lead the way with Yuchan following close behind, his hand firmly in Jun’s, and Donghun bringing up the rear carrying a backpack full of supplies and watching carefully for any slips. “It’s wet.”

“I know!” Yuchan replied with in a vaguely sing song tone. He looked out at the beach’s sand parallel to the rocks they were walking on, and Jun could tell he wanted to run out and play in it. Normally he would let the cheerful boy go and do just that, but they had an agenda that day.

“Now remember, his name is Sehyoon,” Jun said, continuing to lead them along the rocks. “Don’t be scared of him, he won’t hurt you.”

“Okay,” Yuchan said, biting his lip. They were getting closer to the ocean now, waves beginning to crash against the black stones and sending up sprays of foam. Yuchan shrieked when one wave smashed into the rocks right next to them and drenched them, before laughing as Jun sputtered out saltwater.

“Ack!” Jun said, using his free hand to scrub at his eyes.

“I’ll be happy when we can go home and I can take a bath,” Donghun grumbled, frowning at his damp plaid shirt.

“You and me both, “Jun sighed. They continued on for a while until they reached the edge of the last rock, jutting out from the beach and into the open water. Jun had to jerk Yuchan back as the boy leaned over the edge of the rock. “Hey, what did I say about getting too close to the edge?”

“That it wasn’t safe,” Yuchan parroted.

“Right,” Jun said, nodding. “Now Sehyoon should be here any…”

There was a loud bark and suddenly a dark form exploded out of the water, landing a mere foot from where Jun was standing. The shape rumbled, shaking its head from side to side and drenching Jun further as Yuchan screamed, flailing backward. Donghun barely managed to catch the boy when his hand slipped out of Jun’s grasp.

“Sehyoon!” Jun yelled. Yuchan started crying, tears rolling down his cheeks as the large brown seal reared back and let out a loud excited bark.

“You’re scaring the kid!” Donghun said as Yuchan clung to his leg. The seal flopped back down onto the ground, almost flattening itself apologetically, and let out a low burping noise. Yuchan blinked before giggling at that, tears slowing. Encouraged, the seal did it again and again until Yuchan was laughing loud and unrestrained.

Jun rolled his eyes, though a smile was tugging at his lips. “Alright, that’s enough.” The seal lifted its head and deliberately made a farting noise in Jun’s direction, making the child laugh even harder, and Donghun had to disguise his own laugh as a cough. “Very mature.”

The seal gave him the equivalent of a smug smile.

“Yuchan, this is Sehyoon,” Donghun said, gesturing to the seal. “Remember when we went to the aquarium last week and saw those seals? Sehyoon is kind of like one of those.” Sehyoon barked happily.

“Alright, let’s talk like normal human beings,” Jun said. “Yuchan, turn around.”

“But I wanna pet the seal!” The boy said, edging closer to Sehyoon. The seal inched forward until Yuchan could pet its head. Yuchan grinned widely.

“Just turn around for a few seconds, and then you can actually talk to Sehyoon,” Jun said.

“Really?” Yuchan asked, eyes wide.

“Yes,” Jun said. “Pretend we’re playing hide and seek and cover your eyes. Count to fifty for me. Can you do that?”

“Yes!” Yuchan chirped enthusiastically, turning his back on the seal and covering his eyes with his hands. “One! Two! Three!”

The seal flopped on its back as soon as the counting began, and Sehyoon began the process of shedding his seal skin. Soon there was a very handsome, very naked, man sitting in front of the two of them with a seal skin wrapped over his shoulders.

“Long time no see,” Sehyoon said with a grin.

Donghun dug around in his backpack before throwing Sehyoon a pair of baggy sweatpants and a loose T-shirt. “Put that on unless you want to be arrested for public indecency.” Sehyoon got dressed quickly, and not a moment too soon.

“Fifty!” Yuchan yelled, spinning around. He frowned in confusion when his eyes landed on Sehyoon. “Where’s the seal? Who is he?” He pointed at Sehyoon.

“What did we say about pointing?” Jun chided.

“It’s not nice,” Yuchan said, lowering his arm. “But where’s the seal?”

“Right here,” Donghun said, gesturing to Sehyoon. The former seal gave Yuchan a wave and a smile. “Sehyoon is what we call a selkie. It means that sometimes he’s a human like you, and sometimes he’s a seal.”

Yuchan’s eyes widened. “I wanna be a seal too!”

Sehyoon laughed, “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. I was just born this way.”

“Like Jun and Donghun?” Yuchan asked. “They said I can’t be a faerie or a pixie either.”

Sehyoon nodded before he turned to Jun. “You tell him to call you by your actual names?”

“We thought it would be easier,” Jun explained, “Especially since we plan on posing as his older siblings or relatives when he starts school next year.”

Sehyoon shrugged. “Makes sense.” He turned back to Yuchan. “My name’s Kim Sehyoon. What’s yours?”

“Kang Yuchan!” the boy answered proudly. “I’m four years old.”

Sehyoon smiled. “That’s very cool. Did Jun or Donghun tell you much about me?”

Yuchan shook his head. “Uh-uh. They just said that you were going to be living with us from now on. And Donghun said the house is gonna smell like fish now. Do you like fish?”

Sehyoon blinked. “I do like fish,” he replied. Out of the side of his mouth he hissed to Donghun, “I’ll get you for that, pixie.”

Donghun grinned and whispered, “I’d like to see you try, you low budget mermaid.” Sehyoon let out an offended gasp.

“I like fish too!” Yuchan said obliviously. “Especially sushi! I eat a lot of it.”

Jun nodded. “Yuchan eats enough for five kids. For a while I wondered if I’d accidentally gotten a baby troll instead of a human.”

“But he is definitely human, right?” Sehyoon asked, breaking his glaring match with Donghun.

“Through and through,” Jun said. The selkie nodded.

Sehyoon picked up his seal skin and turned back around. “Hey Yuchan, this is my seal skin. It’s what makes me turn into a seal.”

Yuchan’s eyes widened. “Can I touch it?” he asked, already making grabby hands.

“Yes,” Sehyoon said, lowering the skin so Yuchan could feel the wet fur.

“Would it turn me into a seal?” he asked.

“No. Like I said before, that’s only something I can do,” Sehyoon said, actually sounding apologetic about it.

“Yuchan, let’s head home,” Jun suggested. “We can talk more with Sehyoon over hot chocolate.” Both Sehyoon and Yuchan brightened at this.

“Hot chocolate!” Yuchan cheered, tugging at Sehyoon’s hand. “Let’s go!” Sehyoon let himself be dragged along, keeping Yuchan steady as they made their way back to the beach and then to the parking lot.

“Why do I get the feeling that we’ve gotten another child?” Donghun frowned as he and Jun followed at a slower pace.

“I’m suddenly getting flashbacks to our many ill-advised dorm parties,” Jun agreed. “I’m going to start limiting their sugar intake.”

Donghun snorted. “If you think it’s bad now, wait until Byeongkwan flies in tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

Yuchan had monopolized Sehyoon all throughout dinner and up until his bed time. He whined as Jun tucked him in, even as Jun promised that he could talk and play with Sehyoon again the next day. Eventually, Jun got him to go to sleep after a story and he flipped off the lights and gently closed the door behind himself.

He sighed once he was out of the room, hoping that night Yuchan would decide to sleep soundly. Yuchan had never had problems going to sleep, but Donghun and Jun had been woken up before in their respective rooms by a crying Yuchan who got nightmares. Jun hoped that Byeongkwan would be able to help with his singing whenever he arrived. He trudged downstairs to find Sehyoon and Donghun chatting at the dinner table, two mugs of hot chocolate in front of them with an extra sitting at Jun’s usual spot.

“Thanks,” Jun said gratefully, taking a sip of the warm drink. It was welcome after how brisk the beach had been that day.

Sehyoon’s eyebrows shot up. “‘Thanks’?” He repeated. “I thought faeries were offended by the very concept of that word.”

Jun sighed. “I force myself to use it. Even if that word holds no meaning to most fae, Yuchan needs to learn it to fit in with the other humans.”

“Yeah, it’s called having good manners,” Donghun laughed. Jun stuck out his tongue at him.

Sehyoon grinned fondly. “It’s going to take a little time to get used to human customs again. I got your message about what you’re doing, but I want to hear it from you two. How the hell did both you end up caring for that kid? And why America for his education?”

“It’s mainly Jun’s fault,” Donghun said, causing the faerie to sputter over his hot chocolate.

“Okay first of all, stealing children was not my idea!” Jun protested. “I am far from the first fae to ask for that.”

“Excuses,” Donghun muttered, and Jun smacked him on the shoulder.

Jun frowned into his hot chocolate. “But yes, we’re in this situation because a deal of mine went wrong. Well, I mean it went right, but it also went wrong because I didn't consider what would happen.” Jun began to recount the whole story to Sehyoon, right up through Yuchan’s current age. By the time he was finished, it had been about two hours. They were lucky that none of them really needed to sleep.

“And also, we chose America because it’s more likely that we won’t have to deal with the Faerie Queen tracking us down here. America’s the equivalent of a dead zone for most people from our realm,” Jun said. “They only believe in cryptids here, bless their souls.”

Sehyoon mulled over the story for a few minutes, sipping on a cup of water (he’d finished his hot chocolate and hour and a half ago and had been drinking a strange saltwater mixture ever since). “Cool,” he finally said.

“Cool?” Jun asked incredulously.

Sehyoon nodded. “Yeah.”

“Is that it?” Donghun pried.

“Yup,” Sehyoon said. “I mean, I want to help you anyway. I like Yuchan, and I wouldn’t mind helping to raise him. I have a lot of things I can teach him too. And it sounds like we won’t need to worry about any other beings trying to take him.”

“What would you teach him?” Donghun asked.

Sehyoon thought for a moment. “How to swim. Every kid should know how to swim.” Donghun and Jun looked at each other before agreeing.

“That’s fair,” Jun said.

“You said Byeongkwan was coming too, right?” Sehyoon asked.

“Yeah,” Donghun confirmed. “He’s flying in tomorrow afternoon, and if the letter I got was any indication, he is far too excited to meet Yuchan.”

Sehyoon laughed, dumping the rest of his drink in the sink before picking up his seal skin that he’d left draped over a dining room chair. “Oh, this is definitely going to be fun.”

 

* * *

 

_The next day_

 

“Incoming!” a voice yelled from above. Sehyoon looked up in alarm before grabbing Yuchan and running to the side of the yard. Seconds later, something large and heavy hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

“Kim Byeongkwan, if you accidentally hurt Yuchan I’ll rip your wings off and make fried chicken!” Donghun yelled from the kitchen indoors.

“Try it and I’ll make pixie stix with your blood!” Byeongkwan screamed back, the noise reverberating through the house. Sehyoon grinned.

 

* * *

 

_Earlier that morning_

 

Yuchan had all but run down the stairs to breakfast, smiling hugely when he saw Sehyoon setting the table. He was still wearing his pajamas and trailed by a frantic looking faerie.

“Yuchan, don’t run down the stairs!” Jun admonished. “It’s dangerous!”

The boy ignored the warning and rushed right up to Sehyoon to begin pelting him with questions. Sehyoon was greatly amused, and as soon as he had finished setting the table he sat down right next to Yuchan and began answering as fast as he could.

“They’re made for each other,” Jun said dryly, watching as the conversation got more and more animated.

Donghun snorted from where he was flipping pancakes on the stove. “It’s because Sehyoon is mentally four years old.”

“I heard that!” Sehyoon called.

“You were meant to!” Donghun shot back. Within a few minutes, he had a stack of fluffy pancakes piled high on some plates as Jun began taking bowls of cut strawberries, blueberries and bananas over to the table along with maple syrup, chocolate chips, and a can of whipped cream. Yuchan was beyond excited since they usually saved this kind of breakfast for special occasions like his birthday or holidays.

“This actually looks really good,” Sehyoon remarked as Donghun set a stack of pancakes down in front of him.

“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” Donghun said. “Pixies are great cooks.”

“I wouldn’t know since all you ever made for us in college was ramen,” Sehyoon replied, grinning at Donghun’s huff of annoyance. 

After breakfast was eaten and the table was cleared, Yuchan insisted on dragging Sehyoon outside to play pretend while Jun and Donghun stayed inside to work on finishing up Yuchan’s school enrollment. Neither of them had been faced with things like taxes and health insurance before, but suffice to say that Jun found the contracts he signed more headache inducing than the ones normally created by the Fair Folk themselves.

“I swear, there’s no way the person who made these is human,” Jun said, going over a contract about school policies for the second time. “My instructor would cry if she read this. It’s water tight.”

Donghun grumbled from where he was hunched over a checkbook and a calculator. “I’ll swap you. Aren’t Fair Folk supposed to be good at counting?”

“That’s when someone spills salt or sugar,” Jun said. They continued to work in relative silence with only mild complaining for a couple more hours until Donghun looked up to see it was nearly lunchtime.

“Shit, I’m gonna get started on lunch,” he said, getting off the couch and stretching despite his protesting joints. He made his way to the kitchen, leaving Jun alone with his contracts.

‘I feel like I’m forgetting something,’ Jun thought, picking up his phone. He’d caved and gotten a cell phone once he realized he’d need one to call the school or in case Yuchan ever got in trouble while there. Donghun also had one, and they planned on buying two more once Byeongkwan arrived. Jun sat up straight. Oh wait, that was what he forgot.

“Incoming!” a voice screamed from outside.

 

* * *

 

_Afternoon_

 

“Please stop threatening Donghun in front of the child,” Jun said, sliding open the screen doors to stand on the small patio they had. Byeongkwan was standing in the yard proudly, wings outspread as he flashed Jun a peace sign. Jun was suddenly very thankful that their lawn was surrounded by trees so the neighbors wouldn’t notice the new arrival.

“Wow!” Yuchan exclaimed, wide eyes locked on Byeongkwan’s wings. He squirmed out of Sehyoon’s grasp and ran over to the other man. “Are you an angel?”

Byeongkwan looked down at the four year old and then back at Jun. “I already like this kid better than you,” he said, ruffling Yuchan’s hair. The boy whined, and Jun stuck his tongue out at the other while Yuchan was distracted.

“But do you like him more than me?” Sehyoon asked crossing the lawn to his friend. Byeongkwan’s eyes lit up, and he patted Yuchan’s head one last time before running over to Sehyoon and wrapping the selkie in a hug.

“Sehyoon!” he yelled excitedly, wings fluttering. “It’s been forever!”

“Twenty years,” Sehyoon corrected.

“Details,” Byeongkwan said, flapping a hand dismissively. He detached himself from Sehyoon and turned back to Yuchan, who was still looking at his wings. He grinned. “Heya kid. My name’s Kim Byeongkwan.”

“Kang Yuchan,” the boy replied, smiling. “So are you an angel?”

“No,” Byeongkwan said, shaking his head. “I’m way cooler. I’m a siren.”

Yuchan blinked. “Like those things that go off every time there’s a storm?” Byeongkwan heard suspiciously muffled coughing from the direction of the kitchen.

“Not exactly,” he said. “A siren is a being that can use its voice to lure people to it. And we have wings.” He flexed he wings, extending them to their full span. Yuchan’s awestruck expression was fairly gratifying.

“Wow! Can I touch them?” He asked.

Byeongkwan nodded. “Yes, but you have to be careful.” The boy agreed eagerly, and Byeongkwan folded his right wing in front of him so Yuchan could feel the soft feathers. The boy marveled at the feathers, impressed by how some of them were longer than his entire forearm. “Here,” Byeongkwan said, combing his hand gently through his own feathers, and pulling out a loose one. He handed the white and brown speckled feather to Yuchan, who took it carefully.

“Now he’s definitely going to need to wash his hands before eating,” Sehyoon joked.

Byeongkwan narrowed his eyes at the selkie before whacking Sehyoon in the back of the head with his left wing. “I keep my feathers very clean, thank you!”

“Ow!” Sehyoon muttered, clutching the back of his head.

“Lunch!” Donghun called from inside. They all turned to start heading in, Byeongkwan drawing his wings in close to his back before vanishing them entirely under a glamour.

“Wow, you really outdid yourself, Donghun,” Byeongkwan said once inside, taking in the large dining table laden with a variety of lunchmeats, breads, cheese, fruits, and vegetables.

“All the books say a balanced diet is important in a kid’s development,” Donghun said, passing out paper plates so everyone could start building their own sandwiches. Jun helped Yuchan with his and spent a good five minutes convincing the child that something healthy was needed on the plate and one could not survive alone on a towering meat sandwich. The faerie then took Yuchan to eat outside on a picnic blanket, while the rest of them sat down at a table set on the patio.

“He’s a cute kid,” Byeongkwan said, taking a bite of his ham sandwich. “I almost can’t believe he’s human.”

“He is,” Donghun said. “We’re already trying to find a school for him. There’s one that’s a little bit of a car ride away, but apparently it’s the best option.”

“Really? I passed a school when I was flying in that was a lot closer,” Byeongkwan remarked. “I’d assumed we’d send the kid there.”

“We considered that one,” Jun said, having come to the table to grab a couple of apples from the bowl of fruits laying in the center. “But it had iron gates, so it was out of the question.”

“Wait, what? Why does that matter?” Byeongkwan asked.

“Because I’m part of the Fair Folk!” Jun exclaimed, “I wouldn’t even be able to get in the building!” He huffed and turned around to walk back to the picnic blanket with the apples.

“Ohhhhh,” Byeongkwan said.

Donghun laughed. “Yeah. And one more thing. I don’t care if you use any magic or anything at home, this goes for you too, Sehyoon,” he made eye contact with the selkie, “But whenever we’re at Yuchan’s school or anywhere else, we have to maintain the image of being humans.”

Byeongkwan frowned. “Boring.”

“Also,” Donghun continued, ignoring the comment, “We’ll be moving once Yuchan finishes middle school.”

“Why?” Sehyoon asked, eyebrows raised. “Isn’t moving stressful for kids?”

The pixie sighed. “Yes, and I wish we didn’t have to do it, but people at his current school might start noticing that we don’t age. We already have started looking at other locations down the coast and even abroad, but that shouldn’t matter for another eight years.”

Sehyoon frowned but nodded. “I guess that makes sense.” They fell into silence and looked back toward the picnic blanket, where Yuchan was attacking Jun with a plastic baseball bat.

“Die monster!” Yuchan yelled, as Jun fell to the ground and pretended to die a dramatic death.

“You know,” Byeongkwan said, watching Yuchan proceed to whack Jun with the bat anyway despite the other being ‘dead’, “I think I’m really looking forward to this.”

 

* * *

 

Byeongkwan and Sehyoon settled into the established rhythms of the household fairly quickly. Both Donghun and Jun were quietly grateful that they could dispense the chores amongst the four of them instead of just having two people, and there was always someone available to watch Yuchan if outside errands needed to be run. 

Returning to their human habits was a little harder. Technology had changed a lot since their last trip to the mortal realm, and they struggled to keep up. Sehyoon had been the quickest to adapt to using a smartphone, and more often than not he would be the one setting up devices and being called over whenever the TV wasn’t working. It didn’t help that sometimes Jun’s faerie magic messed with the wi-fi.

In addition, all of them sat down with Yuchan on Sundays to watch the morning cartoons. Jun would furiously take notes along with each episode to figure out what Yuchan’s next reading lesson and subject should be while Byeongkwan would groan, “Just enjoy the animal cartoon, good god.”

In seemingly no time, a year had passed with all of them coexisting, and it was time to send Yuchan off to school. All four of the adults were up early that day, making breakfast (Donghun), double checking Yuchan’s bag (Sehyoon), going over the syllabus that had been emailed out to parents a week prior (Jun), or scanning the list of enrolled students in Yuchan’s class on the off chance that the boy got bullied and they had to go bust some heads (Byeongkwan).

“You’re going to cry,” Byeongkwan said confidently, grinning in Jun’s direction.

Jun looked up from the stack of papers in front of him. “I am not,” he sniffed. “I’ve known since I decided to raise Yuchan that he would need to go to school one day. And the Fair Folk don’t cry anyways.”

Byeongkwan kept his grin. “We’ll see if you sing a different tune once you drop him off.”

“Sehyoon, can you go wake him up?” Donghun said over the pair’s bickering. The selkie nodded and headed up the stairs to Yuchan’s room. He knocked gently on the door before pushing it open.

“Hey, Yuchan,” he called, and then paused when he saw the boy already dressed and ready, practically bouncing with excitement. Sehyoon smiled. “Ready for the day?”

“Yeah!” The boy chirped, rushing past Sehyoon to the stairs. “I can’t wait!” During breakfast, Donghun had to remind Yuchan three separate times to slow down so he didn’t choke on his food. 

“I was never this excited for school when we were in college,” Byeongkwan mused, carrying his now empty plate to the sink as Yuchan rushed back upstairs to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“College is different from elementary school,” Jun said.

“College is where enthusiasm goes to die,” Donghun added.

“No, I actually hear that’s middle school,” Sehyoon said. “Most humans are just apathetic by the time they hit college.” All too soon, it was time to head out. They all piled into the large van (a ‘soccer mom van’ Byeongkwan had called it with distaste) and pulled out of their driveway to school.

Byeongkwan twisted around in his seat to look at a smiling Yuchan. “What are you most excited about to do in school?”

“I want to sing! And draw! And learn everything!” the five year old replied excitedly.

Donghun glanced in his rearview mirror before looking in the passenger’s seat to see Jun suspiciously misty eyed. “I thought you said you weren’t going to cry,” he murmured under his breath.

Jun glared at him. “Shut up or I’ll curse you.” Fifteen minutes later they were pulling into the parking lot, finding a spot quickly, and they all got out.

“Remember your manners,” Jun fussed. “Listen to your teacher, don’t run inside, wash your hands after going outside and using the bathroom-“

“I know, Jun!” Yuchan whined, grabbing his backpack and lunchbox. They all began walking him to his classroom.

“And remember what I taught you about defending yourself if someone hurts you,” Byeongkwan added.

“Flail, scream, and run,” Yuchan said. “And tell a teacher.”

Jun gasped. “ _What_ have you been teaching him while my back was turned?!” He stared at Yuchan seriously. “Do NOT hurt anyone. And if it’s an accident you say you’re sorry.”

“Don’t eat glue,” Sehyoon added helpfully.

Jun gave the selkie a look. “Really?”

He shrugged. “A lot of parenting books talk about that.” They stopped right outside Yuchan’s classroom. The boy already looked eager to go in once he heard the sound of other kids already screaming inside.

“And what’s rule number one, Yuchan?” Donghun asked seriously.

“Don’t say anything about faeries, pixies, selkies, or sirens,” Yuchan sighed.

“Good,” Donghun said, ruffling the boy’s hair. Jun opened the classroom door. Suddenly they were all bombarded by a cacophony of sounds, primarily a number of screaming kindergarteners. A woman walked up to them, giving them a smile.

“Ah, you must be Kang Yuchan,” she said, looking down at the boy. Yuchan nodded shyly. “We’ve been waiting for you. And you are?” She looked to the other adults.

“Park Junhee,” Jun said with a winning smile, bowing slightly before extending a hand. “May I have your name?” Donghun smacked Jun on the shoulder, and he coughed. “Sorry, can I know what to call you?”

“You can call me Ms. Jung,” the woman said, looking slightly confused but still shaking Jun’s hand. “I teach this class’ homeroom, but they will have other teachers for art and music. I’m sorry, you said your last name was Park?” Yuchan squirmed in Donghun’s grip, looking at the other children wistfully.

“Oh!” the woman said, noticing Yuchan’s dilemma, “he can go play if he wants. I don’t have anything to ask him right now.” 

“Go on,” Donghun said fondly, releasing Yuchan’s hand. “Remember to play nice.” Yuchan nodded. “Bye! Love you!” he raced off. 

“Sorry, the rest of your names?”

“Kim Byeongkwan,” the siren said, bowing and shaking the woman’s hand next.

“Kim Sehyoon.”

“Lee Donghun.”

The woman looked a little bewildered. “I hate to ask, but how are all of you related to Yuchan?”

“You see, Yuchan is adopted,” Byeongkwan half-lied. “Jun was the one who adopted him, but we’re all related to each other.”

“Yes, I’m his guardian,” Jun said, cursing the fact that he couldn’t outright lie. “I’ve watched over him for five years.”

“Ah, I see,” Ms. Jung said, though she still looked a little confused. “Well, we’ll take good care of Yuchan here.”

“I have no doubt about that,” Donghun said. “Your school had great reviews.”

“We pride ourselves on focusing on the children’s well-being,” Ms. Jung agreed. “Now who will usually be picking Yuchan up?”

The four men glanced at each other. “Usually me,” Sehyoon said. “Sometimes Byeongkwan if he can manage to finish all his work early.”

She nodded. “Great! I’ll be on the lookout for you then.” They all bowed to her one final time before leaving. As they headed to the car, Byeongkwan broke the silence.

“The teacher seemed nice enough,” he said.

“And the kids looked like they were taking a liking to Yuchan before we left,” Sehyoon said.

“That boy has supernatural charisma,” Byeongkwan agreed. They got into the van. There was little noise in the car, but Byeongkwan heard the sniffles. “I knew it!” he hollered at the top of his lungs, making Donghun curse as he nearly swerved off the road. “You’re crying!”

“I am not!” Jun said, wiping furiously at his eyes.

“You kind of are,” Sehyoon said, shrugging when Jun shot him a betrayed look. “What? There’s nothing wrong with crying.”

“I know but…” Jun sighed. “I’m not supposed to cry.”

“As one of the Fair Folk?” Donghun asked. Jun nodded. “That’s bullshit.” Jun gaped at him. “Like Sehyoon said. It’s okay to cry.”

“Keeping emotions repressed is unhealthy,” Byeongkwan agreed. “Take it from someone who’s entire purpose is to sing about repressed emotions and wishes.”

“I’ll get better at it,” Jun said. “Thank you.” The expression of gratitude was still awkward on his tongue, but he hoped he got his point across.

Donghun nodded. “No problem. We’re all in this together.”

Byeongkwan smiled evilly, “You know, I saw a movie on TV the other day that Yuchan was watching, and what you just said reminded me of a song in it.”

“No singing while I’m driving!” Donghun exclaimed, and Sehyoon scrambled from the seat next to Byeongkwan to cover the siren’s mouth, thankfully muffling the song before Donghun caused an accident.

 

* * *

 

_Two months later_

 

“A sleepover?” Jun asked, looking up from his tablet. All the other adults turned to look at Yuchan, who had bounced into the house excitedly.

“Yeah!” he said. “I was wondering if I could host one for my friends!” 

Unsurprisingly, Byeongkwan was immediately on board, “Yeah, definitely!” he said without hesitation, Donghun gave him a look.

“First of all, how many friends are we talking?” Donghun asked.

“Just Seokmin and Mingyu,” Yuchan said, listing the only other two Korean kids they even knew went to Yuchan’s school.

“It shouldn’t be too bad if there’s only two other kids,” Sehyoon said, looking to Donghun. “The house is pretty big anyway and they can all just camp out in the living room.”

Donghun considered this before finally caving in the face of Yuchan’s puppy dog eyes. He had always been weak to those. “Fine. But we have to go over some rules later.” Yuchan cheered, jumping around the living room and followed shortly after by Byeongkwan.

“It’ll be fine,” the selkie said, before wincing as the duo almost knocked over a lamp.

“I’m already scared,” Donghun muttered.

 

* * *

 

“Wow, your house is really big, Chan,” Seokmin said, looking around. It was, with plenty of open space and expensive but fairly minimal furniture.

“It’s because a few of my relatives live here,” Yuchan replied, leading the other two boys into the living room. They all dropped their sleeping bags and overnight supplies on the floor. The living room only had a couple of couches, an armchair, a low table, and a flat screen television in it.

“Oh, hey,” Byeongkwan said, entering the room and looking over the trio. “You two must be Yuchan’s friends. My name’s Byeongkwan. I’m Yuchan’s, uh, cousin.” He winced at his own slip up, but the two boys didn’t seem to notice since they just bowed and introduced themselves.

“You boys hungry?” Byeongkwan asked. “Donghun and Jun went out to pick up some groceries for dinner, but we have some snacks and drinks until then. “Water? Milk? Juice?” He walked into the kitchen rattling off the entire contents of the fridge as the boys trailed after him. “Let’s see,” he said, opening the fridge, “Apples, oranges, pears, raw fish, uh ignore that.” Byeongkwan shoved Sehyoon’s wrapped up fish to the side.

“Juice!” Yuchan said. “With oranges! Please!”

“Okay, sounds good,” Byeongkwan said, pulling the food and drinks out. He got the boys situated at the table. “I’ll try and stay out of your hair for now. If you need me, you can just come get me in my room upstairs.”

“Thanks!” Yuchan said. “Where’s Sehyoon?”

“Oh, he’s um…” Byeongkwan trailed off. “Swimming? He’ll be back later tonight.” Byeongkwan headed upstairs.

“Swimming?” Seokmin asked, confused. “It’s the middle of November!”

“He doesn’t seem to mind it,” Yuchan said, thinking back to the times Sehyoon had taken him to the beach and done tricks leaping out of the water in his seal form. “He’s a really good swimmer.”

Mingyu blinked. “If you say so.” They finished their snacks quickly, Yuchan pointing out the trashcan for the other two while he put his glasses in the dishwasher like Jun had taught him. They all made their way back out to the living room.

“So what should we do first?” Yuchan asked, excited by the prospect of hosting his first sleepover. He wanted to make it good.

“Do you have any video games?” Seokmin asked, looking at the large television.

“We have a Wii for Mario Kart,” Yuchan said. “I always beat Jun at it and he gets really sad for a while.”

Seokmin beamed. “Well, I am the master of Mario Kart!”

“I bet I can beat you!” Yuchan replied, already tugging out the controllers from a basket set by the television.

“We shouldn’t fight,” Mingyu said, taking a remote from Yuchan. “I’m the best anyway.” The other two boys let out outraged cries and the Mario Kart tournament began.

 

* * *

 

“We’re back!” Jun called, looking into the living room to see three boys playing Mario Kart while yelling at each other. None of them seemed to notice when Jun and Donghun passed behind them to go to the kitchen and start putting the groceries away.

“At least they’re having fun,” Donghun said, sticking the meat in the fridge. They planned on making spaghetti that night, but they wouldn’t need to get started for another couple hours.

“He’s growing up so fast,” Jun said, pulling the fruit cups he’d bought out of one of the bags.

“Oh, not this again,” Byeongkwan said from behind them. He’d made his way downstairs, and was now giving Jun a very unimpressed look. “The kid is five.”

“I know!” Jun exclaimed. “It feels like just yesterday I got him in an ill-advised deal!”

The siren laughed. “Soon we’ll have a lot more on our plates. I think he’s been trying to hint that he wants to join a sport.”

“What sport?” Donghun asked. “Is it soccer? I hope it’s not soccer. That one kid in the other class tries to kick people in the shins.”

“He’d be good at soccer though,” Byeongkwan mused. “He’s certainly got enough energy for it.”

 

* * *

 

Sehyoon showed up halfway through dinner with his hair dripping wet and a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. A towel was draped around his neck, but the collar of his shirt was still soaked from the water droplets.

“Not on the wood floors!” Jun shrieked, getting up from the dinner table and forcing Sehyoon up the stairs to the carpeted hallway.

Seokmin made a confused face at Yuchan, who shrugged in response. “Jun is particular about the floors for some reason,” he said. Byeongkwan murmured something to Donghun, who nearly choked on the meatball he was eating.

“What?” Yuchan asked, looking concerned as Donghun coughed.

“Nothing,” Donghun said, waving a hand as he cleared his throat. “Just a joke.”

Yuchan turned back to his friends. “So, wanna watch a movie tonight?”

“What movies to you have?” Mingyu asked.

Yuchan frowned as he tried to recall all the DVDs they had in the shelf in the study. “Uh…”

“Why don’t you go show them all the movies after you all finish eating,” Byeongkwan said. “Just let me know when you pick one out, and I’ll get it all set up.”

“Okay, thanks!” Yuchan agreed, the other two also saying thank you. When dinner was over, Yuchan led his friends back into the study where a towering bookcase was filled with movies. Byeongkwan and Sehyoon enjoyed watching movies, but the entire bottom shelf was devoted to Yuchan’s movies. He knelt down to examine the options with his friends. 

“Hey, what about this?” Seokmin asked, pulling out a DVD from a shelf above.

“I don’t know. Byeongkwan always told me that his movies were for grownups because they were scary,” Yuchan said, frowning down at the tape in Seokmin’s hands.

“Sleepovers are for watching scary movies, though!” Seokmin said excitedly. “That’s what my pen pal says, and he’s older.”

Yuchan looked at the movie case nervously. It looked pretty scary to him, and he could tell that Mingyu wasn’t really too keen on it either. “I mean, I have Scooby Doo,” Yuchan offered. “It’s not that scary, but there are ghosts and stuff.”

“What if we watch this one now while it’s still early and we can watch the other one if it’s too scary?” Seokmin offered. Yuchan tilted his head. That sounded good. He turned to Mingyu, who was also nodding hesitantly.

“That sounds fun,” Mingyu said. They walked back to the living room with the two movies and Yuchan walked over to the DVD player. The kitchen was empty as they passed through it, so Yuchan assumed that all the adults had gone upstairs.

“Didn’t Byeongkwan say he would help?” Mingyu asked, confused.

“I know how to work it!” Yuchan said proudly. “And he’s probably busy anyway.” He opened the DVD tray and Seokmin popped the DVD out of the case.

“It probably won’t be that scary anyway,” Seokmin said. “How scary can a Cabin in the Woods be? I went camping in a cabin with my family over the summer, and that wasn’t scary at all.” They all retreated to the couch, huddling together with a blanket draped over them as the DVD’s menu loaded. Yuchan immediately grimaced at the dark screen before pressing the play button.

 

* * *

 

“JUN!” Jun bolted upright in his bed. He’d laid down to take a nap after dinner, but he had scrambled to his feet in seconds at Yuchan’s voice. “DONGHUN! BYEONGKWAN! SEHYOON!” Jun threw open his bedroom door, the door continuing to swing and slam into the wall behind it. The others had burst out of their rooms as well, looking frantic, and they all practically tripped over each other rushing down the stairs to the living room.

“What’s wrong, Yuchan?!” Jun asked, looking around wildly. He was one hundred percent ready to throw a faerie curse on the first living being he laid eyes on. There were no threats anywhere he could see, but his gaze landed on a large blanket covered lump on the couch. He ran around the couch to gently lift the blanket and was met with three pairs of watery eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he tried to soften his voice as three vaguely traumatized looking children stared back at him.

“It’s too scary,” Yuchan said, gripping the DVD remote in his hands tightly. Jun turned and finally noticed the television was on in the background. What was onscreen definitely didn’t look like one of Yuchan’s normal animated movies, and Jun’s jaw dropped as the girl on screen got her hand stabbed through by a dagger. Yuchan let out a squeak and covered his eyes.

Byeongkwan’s eyes widened as he noticed the movie’s contents, and he scrambled to turn of the television using a button on the side before the scene got gorier. The horror movie screams abruptly shut off, and Jun pulled the blanket down from over the three boys’ heads.

“Yuchan, what on earth happened?” Jun asked as the boy lunged forward to cling to him. Jun gently pried the remote from his hand and set it on the coffee table.

The adults could all tell that the other two boys were equally shaken, though they were at a loss of who to go to for comfort. Eventually, Donghun sat down next to Seokmin and didn’t complain when the boy cried into his shirt, and Sehyoon rubbed Mingyu’s back as the child continued to stare at the completely black screen, as if afraid the movie would turn back on if he stopped looking for even a second.

“We-we wanted-,” Yuchan stuttered between sobs.

Mingyu jumped in, “We wanted to watch a scary movie.”

“What about that Scooby Doo movie we had?” Jun asked, running his fingers through Yuchan’s hair.

“We brought that out with us, but we wanted to watch a grownup movie.”

Byeongkwan crossed his arms. “I told you those movies were too scary for you. I said not to pick any of mine before the sleepover.” Yuchan started to cry harder and Byeongkwan sighed before kneeling down in front of him. “Hey. Yuchan, look at me.” The boy raised his eyes from Jun’s shoulder to meet Byeongkwan’s. “I’m not mad.”

“Yes, you are,” Yuchan replied shakily.

Byeongkwan shook his head. “No, I’m not. I’m worried because I know none of you were ready to watch something like that. I don’t like seeing you sad or scared Yuchannie.” He used the sleeve of his sweater to wipe Yuchan’s face despite all the tears and snot. “You need to wait until you’re a grownup to watch grownup movies.”

Yuchan gave a small nod. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Byeongkwan said.

“I’m sorry too,” Seokmin said, voice finally steady enough to speak. “It was my idea. My friend said he watched grownup scary movies when he hung out with his friends, and I just wanted to do that too.”

Donghun patted Seokmin on the back. “Just because he does it, doesn’t mean that you have to.”

Seokmin nodded. “I know.”

“Alright, I think hot chocolate and popcorn are in order,” Jun said, once all the boys had finally stopped crying. They all perked up at the mention of snacks despite dinner being not that long ago. “And then we can all play board games.” The boys all looked considerably more excited about that, and Yuchan’s two friends followed Sehyoon, Byeongkwan, and Donghun into the kitchen. Jun moved to get up from the couch, but was stopped by Yuchan tugging on his shirt.

“I’m sorry,” Yuchan said.

“You already apologized,” Jun said, giving the boy a smile. “As long as you know not to do it again.” Yuchan nodded furiously and Jun tried to bite back a laugh. 

“Um,” he looked hesitant, “Do we still have to sleep down here?” He glanced around the living room nervously. It was already dark outside, and Jun knew that even though the lights were on now, the living room had a lot of noises at night, from the heater to occasionally odd creaks and bumps as the house settled.

He thought about it. “No. We can move all your sleeping bags to my room since it’s the biggest. We can all camp out there.”

“All of us?” Yuchan asked with wide eyes. “Even Donghun, Byeongkwan and Sehyoon?”

Jun grinned, already anticipating the pixie’s long suffering expression when he broke the news, “Yeah, all of us.”

 

(As Jun anticipated, Donghun was not thrilled about sleeping on the ground in Jun’s room, but he couldn’t say no to Yuchan or the other two boys and eventually gave in with only mild complaining)

 

* * *

 

_Two years later_

 

  “I want to take dance lessons,” Yuchan, who now insisted on being called Chan, stated at the dinner table. The four adults absorbed the news in surprise.

“What brought this on?” Jun asked. After Chan’s brief foray into soccer which none of them really enjoyed, Chan hadn’t seemed interested in any other sports.

“Seokmin and Mingyu said they started taking lessons at this one dance studio because a boy a grade above us told them about it,” Chan replied. “They said it was really fun!”

Donghun exchanged a look with Jun. “Well, I can ask their parents about it,” he said.

“It sounds exciting,” Jun agreed.

“Aren’t the Fair Folk good at dancing?” Byeongkwan asked. “I’m surprised you haven’t taught the boy much already.”

“I know this may shock you, but not a lot of our traditional dances go with the Top 40 hits of today’s society,” Jun replied dryly.

Byeongkwan shrugged. “I could probably dance to them.”

“As long as you don’t sing,” Donghun said, raising an eyebrow.

The siren threw up his hands. “I can’t sing in the car, and I can’t sing in the house. Where are you going to let me sing?”

“In the woods outside?” Donghun offered. 

Byeongkwan narrowed his eyes. “I’ll remember this, pixie stix.”

“Call me that one more time…”

Sehyoon turned to Chan, obviously ignoring the other two. “Do you know what kind of style you want to learn?”

“What styles are there?” Chan asked, eyes wide.

“All kinds,” Sehyoon said. “Popping, hip hop, ballroom dancing, salsa, waltz…” he trailed off with a thoughtful expression. “I’m really good at aquarobics and synchronized swimming.”

“Who do you synchronize with?” Jun asked, baffled.

“You do know that other selkies exist, right?”

“I want to dance every style!” Chan exclaimed, eyes wide.

Sehyoon and Jun laughed. “Every style it is,” Jun said.

 

* * *

 

The dance studio looked small but well kept. Chan had immediately rushed off to join Seokmin and Mingyu in their stretches. They were introducing him to another boy, Soonyoung apparently, who had told them about the class. Jun smiled fondly at all of them, and nearly jumped when the instructor appeared next to him.

“Ah!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you!” the man said, extending a hand. “Lee Taemin. I lead this class.” Jun shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Park Junhee and that’s my…ward over there, Yuchan.” Luckily, Taemin just laughed at Jun’s choice of phrasing. “So what kind of dances will Chan be learning?”

“I only teach some basics steps right now,” Taemin said. “They’ll get more specialized when they’re older, but we’re mainly just working on flexibility and rhythm.” Jun nodded. “Do you dance?” Taemin asked, looking Jun up and down. “Sorry, you just looked like a dancer.”

“Oh, well I haven’t for a while,” Jun said, trying to remember when he’d last participated in one of the Fae Court’s festivities. It had definitely been before Chan arrived in his life.

Taemin tilted his head. “You should consider taking it up again. It helps keep you in shape. They do adult classes on Thursdays for beginners here if you want serious choreography. There are Zumba classes Saturday mornings too if you just want to stay active.”

“Maybe,” Jun agreed, noncommittally. “Do you teach the adult classes as well?”

Taemin nodded. “The experienced ones. Not the Zumba.” He grinned and Jun returned his smile, actually beginning to consider the thought. Though the four of them had lived in the area for around seven years, none of them had gotten very involved in the community aside from attending Chan’s school events.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, more genuinely. Taemin offered him one last grin before turning back to the class and beginning the day’s lesson. Jun walked back out of the studio to his car, turning the idea over in his head. He’d bring it up with the others when he got back home. He was sure Byeongkwan and Sehyoon would be interested, the duo always eager to try new things, and Donghun would go if Chan got excited about it.

 

* * *

 

_Three years later_

 

“Calm down,” Sehyoon said, restraining himself from laughing as Jun checked his hair in the mirror for the fourth time in as many minutes. “It’s just a middle school science fair. No one takes it that seriously.”

Jun frowned. “That’s where you’re wrong. I heard Carol bragging at Chan’s last soccer match about some volcano her son had built.” The faerie scoffed. “As if we all didn’t know she does all her son’s homework for him. Yeah sure, Anthony built a volcano when he can’t even keep the ball going in a straight line.”

“Oh shoot, are we trash talking moms?” Byeongkwan said, entering the room. “Let me tell you about Karen, you know Jenna’s mom? Her kid’s been bratty to Chan too. If we were back in my actual home, these fights would be settled with duels to the death, and I bet you that woman would not be able to best me in hand to hand combat.”

“I don’t know about that,” Sehyoon mused. “One of the moms glared at me during the last PTA bake sale because I was sneaking one of the cookies, and I have never before felt fear like I did in that moment.” A horn honked from the garage, alerting all of them that Donghun was getting impatient waiting.

They all hurried to pile in the van as Donghun rolled his eyes. “About time,” he said. Chan was fidgeting in the backseat.

“Nervous?” Byeongkwan asked.

Chan shook his head, though he was biting his lip. “No.”

“It’s okay to be nervous,” Sehyoon said. “But your project looks really good.” He glanced at the folded up poster display next to Yuchan in the back. The clay diorama was set carefully on the floor, and Yuchan had scooted all the way to the other side of the car to avoid even accidentally kicking it.

“Thanks,” Chan said, uncharacteristically quiet. The adults all exchanged looks before spending the rest of the ride in silence. Once in the parking lot, they all got out to help Chan tote his project into the school’s gym. 

The gym was already set up with folding tables, and they quickly found Chan’s assigned spot, placing the diorama on the table and standing up the poster board behind it. Jun nodded admiringly at the display. “Looks good.” He pulled out his cellphone. “Now smile!” Chan looked both happy and embarrassed as Jun began snapping photos on his phone.

“There’s Helen,” Byeongkwan hissed to Sehyoon while Jun and Donghun were distracted with Chan.

“Who’s Helen?” Sehyoon whispered back.

“Charlie and Jessie’s mom?” Byeongkwan said, raising an eyebrow. When Sehyoon still looked confused by that, he rolled his eyes. “The one who yelled in the middle of the grocery store that one time when the price of that dish soap she liked was a dollar higher?”

“Oh,” Sehyoon said, eyes widening in realization. He looked over to the woman, who was straightening her son’s collar. “I never would’ve guessed. Charlie always has such good manners.”

“Ah, Mr. Kim,” someone said, getting Byeongkwan’s attention. He turned to see a mother fixing him with a sharp smile. “I didn’t think you’d be here today.”

“Helen,” Byeongkwan replied pleasantly. He looked at Charlie and Jessie’s projects. “Your kids really outdid themselves.”

“We’re very proud,” she replied. Byeongkwan hummed. “I see you came with all your… relatives?” She raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“Yes,” Byeongkwan confirmed. “Chan is Jun’s, but we all wanted to show our support.”

“How nice,” she said, and Byeongkwan kept the fixed smile on his face. “Well, let’s talk later too. I want to speak with you about our upcoming bake sale.” She headed back to her children.

“I hate her,” Byeongkwan said, smile slipping once the woman was out of earshot. “She had the nerve to call my cookies dry when she thought I wasn’t listening.”

Sehyoon laughed. “You’re really getting into that whole PTA nonsense, aren’t you?”

“Someone in this family has to!” Byeongkwan exclaimed. “What will all the other parents think of us if we don’t contribute to their bake sales or whatever? To them it doesn’t matter that I’ve been saving money since the time of Ancient Greece if I don’t donate a platter of cookies to their cause.”

Byeongkwan watched as Helen began chatting with another woman, the two of them sneaking looks in Byeongkwan’s direction. The siren narrowed his eyes and used every bit of his heightened avian sight to read their lips. He quickly realized the contents of their conversation were not at all flattering, and he let out an offended gasp. “That does it!” he exclaimed.

“What does it?!” Sehyoon asked, looking alarmed by the siren’s outburst. He instinctively extended a hand across Byeongkwan’s chest as the man looked ready to take to the air and dive bomb the woman.

“She’s saying that Chan is immature because he believes in faeries!” Byeongkwan hissed. Louder he called, “Fight me Helen! Hand to hand right here!” His voice began turning the heads of the other parents, and Donghun and Jun turned around from fawning over Chan.

“You wanna go?!” Byeongkwan yelled.

“Oh my god,” Donghun muttered.

“This is not happening,” Jun said, almost to himself, as Sehyoon restrained the short angry blond. He was momentarily grateful that the siren’s magic didn’t affect the three of them as seriously as it did mortals.

“We all know your brownies at the bake sale came out of a box!” Byeongkwan continued, his voice slipping into its siren range. As his words resonated out, several of the other parents’ eyes glazed over and they nodded in agreement that Helen’s brownies were, in fact, the worst.

“Alright, time to leave,” Sehyoon said, though he looked amused. He grabbed Byeongkwan around the waist and hauled him out of the room, all the while the siren continued cursing Helen and her brownies. As soon as Byeongkwan was out of range, everyone seemed to wake back up, shaking their heads in confusion.

“He’s never coming to the school again,” Jun muttered, and Donghun nodded in agreement.

“Or at least those PTA meetings.” They turned back to Chan, who was blinking furiously.

Chan looked at Jun and Donghun with confusion. “I don’t know who Helen is, but I hate her brownies.”

 

* * *

 

_Four months later_

 

Jun took a deep breath before waving a hand over his clothes, changing them from street clothes to his traditional faerie garb. When he looked in the mirror, he barely recognized himself in the outfit. He leaned in, frowning, before smoothing his face into an expressionless mask. After years in the mortal realm, it felt odd to try and suppress his emotions once again, like the mask he’d used in the past didn’t quite fit his face anymore.

He walked down the hallway slowly to Chan’s room, and knocked three times before opening the door. Chan jumped a little when he entered, but spun around quickly, straightening up. Under normal circumstances, Jun would have grinned at how formal Chan was acting, back ramrod straight and wearing his best outfit, neatly pressed.

“Are we going now?” Chan asked, fiddling with the ends of his tie.

Jun nodded. “Remember: don’t look anyone in the eye for too long. Don’t let go of my hand. Don’t accept any food or drink. Turn any offers down politely, but never say thank you.”

Chan nodded and Jun wished, not for the first time that day, he could refuse to go back to the Faerie Court. However, the Queen herself had demanded his and Chan’s presence, so Jun had no other options. Byeongkwan, Sehyoon, and Donghun had all offered to intervene, but they all knew that they were no match for the Queen of the Faeries.

“Let’s go,” Jun said offering Chan his hand. Chan took it, and the two exited the house, walking through their yard and into the woods. Jun stopped at edge of a circle of mushrooms. “This is called a Faerie Ring,” Jun said, “Never come to visit it without me, okay?”

“Okay,” Chan said quietly. Jun felt his heart squeeze a bit at Chan’s scared expression, and he knelt down beside the boy, looking him in the eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you, alright?” He gave Chan a hug before standing back up and taking Chan’s hand again. “It’ll be over before you know it.”

The world tilted upside down, and suddenly they were somewhere else. The realm looked the same as it always had, overgrown with green grass and faeries everywhere. In the distance, Jun could see a group of faeries being entertained by enthralled mortal musicians. Jun wondered how long the musicians had been there.

He squeezed Chan’s hand reassuringly as the boy look around with wide eyes. Chan seemed to jolt at the sudden reminder, and his eyes dropped to his feet. Jun began to lead the boy toward the Court, waving away interest from the other faeries. Luckily none of them seemed interested in Jun or Chan beyond a few second glances before losing interest, so the walk was fairly uneventful.

When they arrived, the Court was held in a large open clearing in the forest. Faeries were spread out chatting, though that all stopped when Jun arrived. Jun was suddenly grateful the Queen had called him during the Spring Court, when most faeries were more open and agreeable.

“Queen Titania. King Oberon,” Jun said, bowing deeply. Chan panicked for a second before doing the same. He straightened up. “You asked me to attend this year.”

“Indeed,” the Queen replied, her voice giving nothing away. Jun had never been able to read her, and he doubted few could with her regal but neutral expression. “We heard that your…ward is to reach maturity soon.”

“By human physical standards, he will soon be developing into an adult,” Jun confirmed, “Though I believe that humans will not socially recognize him as one for many more years.”

“I see,” she said, apparently uninterested by human society. “You have been gone from the realm for a long time, Junhee.” Jun nodded, not sure if he was supposed to defend himself. She didn’t wait for a response in any case. “How long do you intend to raise this child for?”

“As long as his life naturally is,” Jun said, squeezing Chan’s hand reassuringly. The boy fidgeted at his side.

“I see,” Queen Titania said, inclining her head. “Normally, I would not mind any member of my Court galavanting with humans as long as they desire, but one thing about your situation is rather uncommon.” Jun swallowed. “The company you keep these days intrigues me. A pixie, a siren, and a selkie?”

“I had connections to them in the past,” Jun said. “We all attended university together.”

“So I have heard,” the queen replied. “But you consider them suitable guardians for your ward as well? You must know that in making the contract earlier, that child is promised to the Fair Folk. We do not tend to share.”

“And what would you intend I do?” Jun asked, heart dropping.

“Is it not obvious?” Titania sad. “Leave the others. I care not whether you continue raising the child, but your co-habitance with these other creatures is offensive.” Jun was stunned, words drying up in his throat. There was nothing he wanted less than to leave the others, but challenging the Queen on an order was nigh unthinkable.

“You can’t do that!” Jun’s heart jumped at Chan’s sudden outburst, and he quickly looked down at the boy with a terrified expression, mask slipping. Chan looked just as scared, but he glared down the Faerie Queen. “I’m not leaving them! They’re family!”

Jun looked back to Queen Titania in alarm. “Queen Titania,” he began.

She raised a hand, silencing him. “No, I want to hear him speak.” She regarded Chan calmly. “You consider them family?”

Chan nodded sharply. “Yes.”

“Despite the fact that none of them are human?”

“Yes. Donghun says that doesn’t matter.”

“I see,” she mused. “Even Junhee?”

Chan nodded again. “He’s done everything for me. He loves me,” he said with conviction. Jun felt like tearing up himself as Chan ducked behind him, the boy’s confidence evidently at its end. He’d felt proud of Chan before plenty of times, but in that moment he found himself wanting to give Chan the whole world even if he had to spite Titania and Oberon themselves to do it.

“Junhee,” the Queen said, regaining Jun’s attention.

“Your Majesty,” Jun replied warily, not bothering to keep his face emotionless. There was a long pause as the two met each other’s gazes. The other faeries were murmuring in the background, but Jun couldn’t care less about whatever rumors they would spread about him later.

“I believe I’m considering an alternative,” she said finally, silencing the others in the Court. “It’s clear that child is unwilling to part with you or the odd creatures you call family these days. I have no desire to have creatures in my realm that would do something so offensive as be displeased with it. You may take the child with you back to the mortal realm and remain as long as you so desire.”

Jun blinked. “This is… unexpected.”

Chan finally peeked out from behind Jun. “Is she letting us go?” he whispered. Jun nodded, hardly believing it himself.

“Thank you!” Chan blurted, realizing a second later what he’d done and slapping a hand over his mouth. The other faeries in the court looked irritated, but the Queen’s lips only twitched upward.

“That is all I have called you here for Junhee. You are dismissed.” And with a wave of her hand, Jun and Chan bowed one last time before leaving the clearing. Jun led Chan back to the mortal realm in a bit of a daze, and didn’t let go of the child’s hand until he was standing outside the house once again.

The screen door flew open, and they were immediately tackled by the rest of the house members. Byeongkwan was near tears as he hugged Chan, wings covering them in a feathery cocoon while Sehyoon protested that it was his turn to hug the ten year old. Donghun clapped Jun on the shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts.

“You made it back,” he said, voice giving away nothing though his eyes looked relieved. He frowned for a minute before reluctantly wrapping Jun in a hug. “We were worried,” he muttered in Jun’s ear. After a few seconds he released the faerie. “Mostly Byeongkwan and Sehyoon. They thought the Queen might keep him.”

Jun lowered his voice. “She wanted us to leave.” Donghun went rigid, eyes hardening. “She said she didn’t want us living with all of you since Chan belonged to the Fair Folk.”

“That’s bullshit,” Donghun said bluntly. Normally Jun would scold him for swearing in front of Chan or daring to insult the Queen of the Seelie Court, but he found himself nodding.

“Apparently Chan thought so too,” Jun said, “He yelled at her in front of the whole Court.”

Donghun’s eyes widened, and he looked at Chan who was currently being smothered between the siren and the selkie. “I’m taking him out for chicken tonight,” he said decisively. Jun laughed, a little wetly as the events of the day caught up to him. He and Chan had left that morning and hardly remained for an hour in the realm, but it was already dark by the time they got back. 

“Did something else happen?” Donghun asked, looking concerned.

“No,” Jun said, shaking his head and dabbing at his eyes. “She let us go. No extra conditions, strangely enough.”

“But…?” Donghun prompted.

“It’s just… Chan said I loved him,” Jun said.

Donghun’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, you do, don’t you?”

“Of course I do!” Jun exclaimed before smiling a little, “I’m just glad that he knows it.”

 

* * *

 

_Three years later_

 

When Chan turned thirteen and graduated middle school, they all had to move. They’d remained in America for far too long, and soon people would start noticing that they never aged. Already they were getting weird looks from the others, and Taemin had mentioned laughingly that he was jealous of how Jun’s skin never seemed to wrinkle. 

They had been preparing Chan for the move for a while, but that didn’t make it any easier when the month before came. Chan had been frantically gathering his friends’ phone numbers and e-mails, and they all made Skype and Discord accounts so they could continue talking. Jun felt bad about taking Chan away, but it was necessary.

The year before the move, the four of them had settled on moving to South Korea. Chan’s mother had been from their originally anyway, and they’d alway tried to keep Chan in touch with his heritage ever since he was young by learning the language alongside him, attending cultural events, and trying to keep up with the pop culture there. Chan had taken a shine to the idol culture, and Jun had caught him practicing some of the more famous choreography in his room more times than he could count.

On the day they packed their clothes into bags and got into a cab, it seemed like it had come too soon. They had shipped things out to their new house over the course of the past month luckily, but it was still stressful to get their remaining things together. Chan was subdued when the last bag got loaded and they all watched their house grow smaller in the distance. Byeongkwan rubbed Chan’s back comfortingly, but for the most part they gave the boy some space.

The airport was noisy and dirty, and Jun wrinkled his nose behind his surgical face mask (apparently they were pretty common where they were going). Donghun was making a similar expression behind his own mask and gave Jun a long suffering look. Jun shook his head as picked up his suitcase and they all headed to the check in to receive their boarding passes.

The TSA checkpoint passed in a blur, the one notable moment being when Sehyoon glared putting his seal skin (glamoured to look like a fur coat) onto the conveyor belt. As soon as it passed through, he picked it up and wrapped it around his shoulders protectively. They found the gate with similarly little mishaps and with a good hour and a half before boarding. Byeongkwan, worried about Chan, took the kid to go get some food while Donghun and Jun went to the bathroom and Sehyoon guarded their bags by the gate.

Jun and Donghun had just arrived back at the gate when the heard Sehyoon cry in outrage. At first they couldn’t believe the noise had come from their friend, normally fairly quiet around strangers, but when they got closer to the gate they could see that it was definitely Sehyoon standing there with an unbelievably offended expression as a bewildered man held Sehyoon’s skin in his hand.

“I just wanted to give your coat back!” the man said, muffled by his own mask. He looked around in alarm, his eyes pleading anyone for help.

“I can’t marry you!” Sehyoon exclaimed, looking at the coat, evidently torn between taking it back and leaving it in the man’s hand.

“What?!” the man said, eyes widening. “Who said anything about marriage?!”

“I have things to do!” Sehyoon continued, ignoring the man’s comments and picking up intensity. “I have a _kid_ to watch! I can’t be tied down now!”

“What are you talking about?!”

“I’m sorry, our friend is…” Jun trailed off as he jumped between the men. “Uh.” He floundered for some kind of sensible explanation.

“Look,” he guy said, appearing incredibly weirded out by the whole ordeal, “I just saw his coat on the floor and I wanted to give it back to him since it looked expensive.”

“Yeah, see, where he grew up that kind of thing has other implications,” Jun said, wincing. “I’ll take that though.” He grabbed the skin from the man and carefully laid it with the rest of their things. Sehyoon finally relaxed fractionally and looked a bit embarrassed by the whole situation. He sat down quickly and hugged the skin to his chest.

Jun sighed, relieved that it had mostly worked out. “I’m sorry about that…?”

“Seungyoon,” the other man said, frowning at Sehyoon.

“Seungyoon,” Jun repeated, using just a bit of magic to ease the man’s stress. “Well it was… interesting meeting you, but you said you had something to get to?”

The man’s brow furrowed before he nodded in agreement. “I need to… get back to my group.” He walked off, shaking his head slightly.

Donghun was already sitting down next to Sehyoon when Jun collapsed in the seat across from them. “Not even out of the country yet,” he sighed.

“Sorry,” Sehyoon mumbled.

“We know how serious that kind of thing is, don’t worry,” Jun said. “I’m just happy you didn’t get married.”

Donghun grinned. “We’d have to delay our move to organize your wedding.” Sehyoon groaned, realizing the pixie wouldn’t let this go for a long time, if ever. Byeongkwan and Chan returned at the moment, both looking confused as they took in the trio’s expressions.

“What happened here?” Byeongkwan asked, passing out breakfast sandwiches and hash browns from the McDonald’s bag.

“Sehyoon almost went and got himself hitched,” Donghun smirked.

Byeongkwan blinked. “At this time in our lives?” He frowned at Sehyoon. “That’s quite a big decision.”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Sehyoon whined. “My skin fell on the ground, and some guy picked it up and tried to give it back to me.”

“Ah,” Byeongkwan said, humming in realization. “Was he at least cute?” 

 

* * *

 

When they got off the plane, they were greeted by a series of bright flashes. Jun had to blink a few times, too groggy from his nap (if it could even be called that) on the flight to even begin processing what was happening.

“Oh my god,” Donghun groaned, scrubbing at his eyes.

“Who are they?” One of the people with cameras asked, the flashes abruptly stopped and they all squinted to see a line of disappointed girls with large expensive cameras. “They’re not Winner.”

“Maybe they’re trainees?” one of them suggested. 

“But they have a kid!” one girl pointed out. The five of them continued on past the line, Donghun grabbing Chan’s hand and pulling him close while hopefully also blocking him from the cameras. 

“There they are!” one of the girls cried, and suddenly the camera flashes started up again. Luckily, they were all past the line at that point.

“Jinwoo! Over here!”

“Minho!”

“Seungyoon I love you!”

The group hurried onward to the baggage claim, leaving behind the fans. They reached the claim area out of breath, wishing desperately to be anywhere else. “Let’s just get our stuff and get a car,” Jun said. They all nodded in agreement. When their bags finally came, they stood as far away from the group causing all the fuss, Winner apparently if all the girls’ screams were anything to go by, and left as soon as their last bag was found.

They got in a van as fast as possible, and were soon on their way to their new home. Chan had fallen asleep in the backseat with Byeongkwan while Sehyoon and Donghun took up the middle row and Jun took shotgun. Ten minutes into the drive, Sehyoon put on his headphones. Jun turned to Donghun.

“I think we should just get some food from a convenience store tonight. I’m exhausted and the jet lag is going to be awful.”

Donghun nodded. “I could sleep for the rest of the year.”

 

* * *

 

The change was rough on all of them. They found themselves constantly correcting their language (even though they all spoke Korean fluently), and Chan had a hard time adjusting to not being able to see his friends as often. The time zone difference was just too great. Jun felt bad for the boy, but he was sure Chan would make friends once the school year started.

Speaking of which, Jun had tried his hardest to find a music academy and dance studio to send Chan to. They’d all realized how much Chan loved dancing and singing, and Jun was determined to see the boy live up to his fullest potential. Byeongkwan was, of course, overjoyed and had given the kid singing lessons himself, with mixed results. After the siren had accidentally lured the boy to sleep for the fifth time, Donghun had taken charge of the vocal lessons while Byeongkwan and Sehyoon started teaching more dancing.

Jun had focused on unifying it, making sure Chan’s movements were sharp and in time with the rhythm. He didn’t brag often, but Jun was a fairly skilled dancer by faerie standards, which made him phenomenal to most humans. Taemin had even remarked a few times on the quality of Jun’s skill while he’d taken the dance classes, making Jun swell up with pride.

Chan’s introduction to both the school and the studio had been rocky at first. He hadn’t been used to the new instructors, language, or teaching methods. However, everyone encouraged him at home, and eventually he came out of his shell again and began to smile as brightly as he used to in their previous home. Jun couldn’t be prouder.

 

* * *

 

_Six years later_

 

“I have an announcement,” Chan said one night at the dinner table. The four others stopped eating to look at him.

“What is it?” Byeongkwan asked around a mouthful of rice.

“I’m going to audition,” Chan said. “For a major company.”

“You want to be an idol?” Donghun asked, looking concerned. “That’s a big commitment. You know the stories about how little food and sleep they get. I don’t want them forcing you to diet or get surgery.”

“I want to audition,” Chan repeated. “I’ve thought really hard about it for a while. Seokmin, Mingyu, and Soonyoung already debuted.” And they had. Chan had learned a couple of years ago, before communication had been entirely cut off by their company, that all of his friends planned to audition at the same event. Earlier that year, Chan had watched the music shows and seen all of them in a group with ten other boys. 

Donghun set down his chopsticks with a sigh. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

Chan nodded firmly. “Yes.”

“We’ll always support you,” Jun said, looking around the table. All the others nodded. “We just want you to be happy, Chan.”

“I am,” Chan said, smiling, “I just want to do what I love.”

“Then we’ll help you however we can,” Jun said.

“Maybe I should audition too,” Byeongkwan mused, effectively ruining the moment.

“What?” Jun exclaimed, almost dropping his chopsticks in surprise.

“I could do it,” Byeongkwan said. “I’m a good dancer! And I can sing! And rap! Why am I not drowning in offers already?”

“Oh my god,” Chan said, looking mortified. “If you do, you can’t apply to the same company as me.”

“Why not?” Byeongkwan asked. “We could be in the same group together!”

“Because people will think we’re almost the same age when you raised me!” Chan said, grimacing slightly.

“If Byeongkwan’s auditioning, then I am too,” Sehyoon said, looking interested.

“No!” Chan cried, expression looking similar to someone watching a car wreck happen in slow motion.

“Maybe we should all just audition,” Jun said, smirking at Chan’s despair.

“It would be a good way to keep an eye on Chan,” Donghun agreed.

“Absolutely not!” Chan shrieked. They all ignored him. As their conjectures of auditioning and joining an idol group together got wilder, Chan buried his face in his hands. Then, since no one could see and judge him, he smiled. It looked like he wouldn’t have to let go of his family after all.

**Author's Note:**

> And then they all fought over who got to be in the photoshoots with Yuchan while he died of embarrassment.
> 
> Also, if I ever say I'm going to write something this long again, then just punch me in the face so I won't have to do it myself.


End file.
